France opens first military space air base in Toulouse
France has officially inaugurated its first-ever military space air base, a landmark step in the country’s effort to assert sovereignty in an increasingly contested domain.
Air Base 101 Toulouse, now reactivated as a Base Aérienne à Vocation Spatiale (BAVS), will serve as the operational hub of France’s military space activities.
The ceremony took place on July 2, 2025, in Toulouse’s Place du Capitole, the symbolic heart of the city and the epicenter of French aerospace and space research.
Once closed during a defense restructuring wave in 2008, Air Base 101 has been revived on a new site: the Toulouse Space Center of CNES [France’s National Centre for Space Studies – ed. note]. While the base retains its historic number, its function has evolved dramatically, from training aircrews to commanding space operations.
“This day is one of those that will count in the history of our army,” declared Air and Space Force Chief of Staff General Jérôme Bellanger.
Air Base 101 has selected General Robert Aubinière as its symbolic patron, a World War II hero, space pioneer, and the first director of CNES. His dual legacy in both air and space reflects the new identity of the base: a convergence point of military heritage and future-focused defense.
The road to militarizing space
France’s military interest in space intensified in 2018 when then-Defense Minister Florence Parly publicly accused Russia of attempting to spy on the Franco-Italian military satellite Athena-Fidus using its Luch-Olymp K satellite. It was not the first time: similar proximity maneuvers by foreign spacecraft had been detected as early as 2012.
In response, France began developing a more robust space defense posture. In 2019, President Emmanuel Macron announced the creation of a dedicated Space Command (Commandement de l’Espace, CDE) within the newly renamed French Air and Space Force. France also launched the yearly multinational military space exercise AsterX, exploring orbital warfare scenarios with NATO and European allies.
With the creation of BAVS, this evolution takes on a physical form. The base consolidates the vast majority of France’s space military infrastructure, with nine specialized CDE units located on-site. These include the Space Operations Command and Control Center (C3OS), the Space Intelligence Center (CRIS), and the Space Actions Control Squadron (ECAS), responsible for potential active counterspace measures.
The only major space unit not co-located at BAVS is the Military Satellite Observation Centre (CMOS), which remains in Creil, northern France.
Operational from day one
Though still ramping up in staffing — currently 310 personnel, with 500 expected by 2030 — BAVS is designed for immediate operational impact. Its core missions reflect the new space doctrine: surveillance, protection, and potential intervention in orbit.
The base also hosts the NATO Space Centre of Excellence, which supports allied doctrine development, training, and interoperability.
The revival of BA 101 is also a signal to the industry. Earlier in 2025, Dassault Aviation CEO Éric Trappier lamented the lack of interest in a European spaceplane, telling parliamentarians: “There is no spaceplane today. I have the idea in my head. I have the will. But I feel like nobody is interested.”
That sentiment shifted at the Paris Air Show 2025, where Dassault signed agreements with both the French Ministry of the Armed Forces and the European Space Agency to develop VORTEX, a new spaceplane project aimed at strengthening autonomous European access to space, and potentially adding a reusable military asset to France’s orbital capabilities.
RELATED
Will space be the next battlefield?
The post France opens first military space air base in Toulouse appeared first on AeroTime.
France has officially inaugurated its first-ever military space air base, a landmark step in the country’s effort to…
The post France opens first military space air base in Toulouse appeared first on AeroTime.
